The Desert of Wheat

War Comes to the Big Bend Country

Whether you are an old hand, or a greenhorn who has heard of Zane Grey and willing to try one of his books, The Desert of Wheat will not disappoint....unless you are expecting cowboys on horses or shoot-outs in the streets. This book has neither, but it does give us a taste of the conditions which existed during the period of years surrounding the 1st World War--especially the activity and philosophy of a group called the IWW, the Industrial Workers of the World-a socialist, communist organization espousing destruction of the United States. There is espionage, arson, murder, and intrigue all set in the wheat growing district of Washington state known as the Columbia Basin. Also, as with any Zane Grey book the vivid descriptions of landscape and his fully rounded and well developed characters are there, as well as the romance, all heightened amid the backdrop of the War--a German father who hates America; the son who wants to fight for American; the daughter of a rich banker who will do anything to keep the man she loves from going to war. The theme, the intense interaction of the characters involved make for one of the best of Zane Grey. A note of reminder: This was a contemporary novel, written and set and published during the time period it displays, so some of the language may seem dated in places, but true to the period and times. Zane Grey has often been charged with his broad use of colloquialisms, and in some of his later novels it does seem over used, but Zane Grey wrote the way he heard people speak. I highly recommend this version if you cannot find or afford the unexpurgated version recently published in 2012 War Comes to the Big Bend.